Method and device for receiving or transmitting downlink control signal in wireless communication system

ABSTRACT

A method for receiving a downlink control signal by a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, the method includes monitoring the plurality of enhanced physical downlink control channel (EPDCCH) candidates in an EPDCCH set to decode an EPDCCH transmitted from a base station (BS) using the minimum aggregation level; decoding the EPDCCH transmitted from the BS; and receiving a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) corresponding to the decoded EPDCCH, wherein a minimum aggregation level for a plurality of EPDCCH candidates is determined as 2 if both a downlink (DL) bandwidth includes at least 25 resource blocks (RBs) and a downlink control information (DCI) format is one of DCI formats 2, 2A, 2B, 2C and 2D.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Continuation of co-pending U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 15/203,476 filed on Jul. 6, 2016, which is a Continuation ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/349,605 filed on Apr. 3, 2014 (nowU.S. Pat. No. 9,401,792 issued on Jul. 26, 2016), which is the NationalPhase of PCT International Application No. PCT/KR2013/008477 filed onSep. 23, 2013, which claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) to U.S.Provisional Application Nos. 61/723,754 filed on Nov. 7, 2012,61/721,517 filed on Nov. 2, 2012 and 61/703,792 filed on Sep. 21, 2012,all of which are hereby expressly incorporated by reference into thepresent application.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a wireless communication system, andmore particularly to a method and apparatus for receiving andtransmitting downlink control signal in the wireless communicationsystem.

Discussion of the Related Art

Recently, various devices requiring machine-to-machine (M2M)communication and high data transfer rate, such as smartphones or tabletpersonal computers (PCs), have appeared and come into widespread use.This has rapidly increased the quantity of data which needs to beprocessed in a cellular network. In order to satisfy such rapidlyincreasing data throughput, recently, carrier aggregation (CA)technology which efficiently uses more frequency bands, cognitive ratiotechnology, multiple antenna (MIMO) technology for increasing datacapacity in a restricted frequency, multiple-base-station cooperativetechnology, etc. have been highlighted. In addition, communicationenvironments have evolved such that the density of accessible nodes isincreased in the vicinity of a user equipment (UE). Here, the nodeincludes one or more antennas and refers to a fixed point capable oftransmitting/receiving radio frequency (RF) signals to/from the userequipment (UE). A communication system including high-density nodes mayprovide a communication service of higher performance to the UE bycooperation between nodes.

A multi-node coordinated communication scheme in which a plurality ofnodes communicates with a user equipment (UE) using the sametime-frequency resources has much higher data throughput than legacycommunication scheme in which each node operates as an independent basestation (BS) to communicate with the UE without cooperation.

A multi-node system performs coordinated communication using a pluralityof nodes, each of which operates as a base station or an access point,an antenna, an antenna group, a remote radio head (RRH), and a remoteradio unit (RRU). Unlike the conventional centralized antenna system inwhich antennas are concentrated at a base station (BS), nodes are spacedapart from each other by a predetermined distance or more in themulti-node system. The nodes can be managed by one or more base stationsor base station controllers which control operations of the nodes orschedule data transmitted/received through the nodes. Each node isconnected to a base station or a base station controller which managesthe node through a cable or a dedicated line.

The multi-node system can be considered as a kind of Multiple InputMultiple Output (MIMO) system since dispersed nodes can communicate witha single UE or multiple UEs by simultaneously transmitting/receivingdifferent data streams. However, since the multi-node system transmitssignals using the dispersed nodes, a transmission area covered by eachantenna is reduced compared to antennas included in the conventionalcentralized antenna system. Accordingly, transmit power required foreach antenna to transmit a signal in the multi-node system can bereduced compared to the conventional centralized antenna system usingMIMO. In addition, a transmission distance between an antenna and a UEis reduced to decrease in pathloss and enable rapid data transmission inthe multi-node system. This can improve transmission capacity and powerefficiency of a cellular system and meet communication performancehaving relatively uniform quality regardless of UE locations in a cell.Further, the multi-node system reduces signal loss generated duringtransmission since base station(s) or base station controller(s)connected to a plurality of nodes transmit/receive data in cooperationwith each other. When nodes spaced apart by over a predetermineddistance perform coordinated communication with a UE, correlation andinterference between antennas are reduced. Therefore, a high signal tointerference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) can be obtained according to themulti-node coordinated communication scheme.

Owing to the above-mentioned advantages of the multi-node system, themulti-node system is used with or replaces the conventional centralizedantenna system to become a new foundation of cellular communication inorder to reduce base station cost and backhaul network maintenance costwhile extending service coverage and improving channel capacity and SINRin next-generation mobile communication systems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the present invention is to provide a method for receivingand transmitting downlink control signal in the wireless communicationsystem.

It is to be understood that technical objects to be achieved by thepresent invention are not limited to the aforementioned technicalobjects and other technical objects which are not mentioned herein willbe apparent from the following description to one of ordinary skill inthe art to which the present invention pertains.

The objects of the present invention can be achieved by providing amethod for receiving a downlink control signal by a user equipment (UE)in a wireless communication system including: receiving an EnhancedPhysical Downlink Control Channel (EPDCCH) from a downlink serving basestation (BS); and monitoring a plurality of EPDCCH candidates in anEPDCCH set contained in the received EPDCCH, wherein a minimumaggregation level of the EPDCCH candidates is associated with a downlink(DL) bandwidth of the wireless communication system and downlink controlinformation (DCI) format.

Preferably, if the downlink (DL) bandwidth is comprised of at least 25resource blocks (RBs) and the DCI format is one of DCI formats 2, 2A,2B, 2C and 2D, the minimum aggregation level may be 2.

Preferably, if the number of PRB pairs constituting the EPDCCH set is 4,8, 4, 2, and 1 EPDCCH candidate(s) may be set to aggregation levels 2,4, 8, and 16, respectively.

Preferably, the method may further include: receiving informationregarding the number of EPDCCH candidates for each aggregation level (L)from the downlink serving BS.

Preferably, if an aggregation level (hereinafter, “L1”) is set to behigher than the number of enhanced control channel elements (ECCEs)contained in the EPDCCH set, the method may further includes allocatingEPDCCH candidates for the L1 to other aggregation levels.

Preferably, the EPDCCH candidates for the L1 may be attempt to beallocated to the other aggregation level with priority from the highestaggregation level to the lowest aggregation level from among aggregationlevels less than the L1, from among aggregation levels set in the EPDCCHset.

Preferably, if additional EPDCCH candidate cannot be allocated to aspecific aggregation level from among aggregation levels less than theL1, the additional EPDCCH candidate may be allocated to a next highestaggregation level subsequent to the specific aggregation level.

Preferably, the number of EPDCCH candidate of the EPDDCH set may bedecided according to each aggregation level (L), the number (N) ofphysical resource block (PRB) pairs of the EPDCCH set, and the number ofenhanced control channel elements (ECCEs) per PRB pair, wherein thenumber of EPDCCH candidates for each N is fixed.

Preferably, if two EPDCCH sets are present, the two EPDCCH sets may beset to have different minimum aggregation levels.

Preferably, if two EPDCCH sets are present, the two EPDCCH sets may beset in a manner that individual aggregation levels have differentnumbers of EPDCCH candidates.

Preferably, if an aggregation level (hereinafter, “L2”) higher than thenumber of enhanced control channel elements (ECCEs) contained in a firstEPDCCH set is set in the first EPDCCH set, EPDCCH candidate(s) for aspecific aggregation level may be allocated to a second EPDCCH set.

Preferably, the EPDCCH candidates for the L2 may be attempted to beallocated to the second EPDCCH set with priority from the highestaggregation level to the lowest aggregation level from among aggregationlevels less than the L2, from among aggregation levels set in the firstEPDCCH set.

Preferably, if additional EPDCCH candidate cannot be allocated to aspecific aggregation level from among aggregation levels less than theL2, the additional EPDCCH candidates may be allocated to a next highestaggregation level subsequent to the specific aggregation level.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a userequipment (UE) configured to receive a downlink control signal in awireless communication system includes: a radio frequency (RF) unit; anda processor configured to control the RF unit, wherein the processorreceives an Enhanced Physical Downlink Control Channel (EPDCCH) from adownlink serving base station (BS), and monitors a plurality of EPDCCHcandidates in an EPDCCH set contained in the received EPDCCH, wherein aminimum aggregation level of the EPDCCH candidates is associated with adownlink (DL) bandwidth of the wireless communication system anddownlink control information (DCI) format.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description andthe following detailed description of the present invention areexemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide furtherexplanation of the invention as claimed.

According to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, thedownlink control signal can be efficiently received and transmitted inthe wireless communication system.

It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the effectsthat can be achieved with the present invention are not limited to whathas been particularly described hereinabove and other advantages of thepresent invention will be more clearly understood from the followingdetailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a furtherunderstanding of the invention, illustrate embodiments of the inventionand together with the description serve to explain the principle of theinvention.

FIG. 1 exemplarily shows a radio frame structure for use in a wirelesscommunication system.

FIG. 2 exemplarily shows a downlink/uplink (DL/UL) slot structure foruse in a wireless communication system.

FIG. 3 exemplarily shows a downlink (DL) subframe structure for use in a3GPP LTE/LTE-A system.

FIG. 4 exemplarily shows an uplink (UL) subframe for use in a 3GPPLTE/LTE-A system.

FIG. 5 exemplarily shows EPDCCH (Enhanced Physical Downlink ControlChannel).

FIG. 6 exemplarily shows EPDCCH (Enhanced Physical Downlink ControlChannel).

FIG. 7 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a carrier aggregation (CA)scheme.

FIG. 8 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a cross-carrier schedulingscheme.

FIG. 9 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a method for deciding thenumber of PRB pairs contained in an EPDCCH set according to oneembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a method for deciding PRBpairs contained in an EPDCCH set according to one embodiment of thepresent invention,

FIG. 11 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example for indicatingPRB pairs contained in an EPDCCH set according to one embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram of an apparatus for implementingembodiment(s) of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of thepresent invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings. The accompanying drawings illustrate exemplary embodiments ofthe present invention and provide a more detailed description of thepresent invention. However, the scope of the present invention shouldnot be limited thereto.

In some cases, to prevent the concept of the present invention frombeing ambiguous, structures and apparatuses of the known art will beomitted, or will be shown in the form of a block diagram based on mainfunctions of each structure and apparatus. Also, wherever possible, thesame reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings and thespecification to refer to the same or like parts.

In the present invention, a user equipment (UE) is fixed or mobile. TheUE is a device that transmits and receives user data and/or controlinformation by communicating with a base station (BS). The term ‘UE’ maybe replaced with ‘terminal equipment’, ‘Mobile Station (MS)’, ‘MobileTerminal (MT)’, ‘User Terminal (UT)’, ‘Subscriber Station (SS)’,‘wireless device’, ‘Personal Digital Assistant (PDA)’, ‘wireless modem’,‘handheld device’, etc. A BS is typically a fixed station thatcommunicates with a UE and/or another BS. The BS exchanges data andcontrol information with a UE and another BS. The term ‘BS’ may bereplaced with ‘Advanced Base Station (ABS)’, ‘Node B’, ‘evolved-Node B(eNB)’, ‘Base Transceiver System (BTS)’, ‘Access Point (AP)’,‘Processing Server (PS)’, etc. In the following description, BS iscommonly called eNB.

In the present invention, a node refers to a fixed point capable oftransmitting/receiving a radio signal to/from a UE by communication withthe UE. Various eNBs can be used as nodes. For example, a node can be aBS, NB, eNB, pico-cell eNB (PeNB), home eNB (HeNB), relay, repeater,etc. Furthermore, a node may not be an eNB. For example, a node can be aradio remote head (RRH) or a radio remote unit (RRU). The RRH and RRUhave power levels lower than that of the eNB. Since the RRH or RRU(referred to as RRH/RRU hereinafter) is connected to an eNB through adedicated line such as an optical cable in general, cooperativecommunication according to RRH/RRU and eNB can be smoothly performedcompared to cooperative communication according to eNBs connectedthrough a wireless link. At least one antenna is installed per node. Anantenna may refer to an antenna port, a virtual antenna or an antennagroup. A node may also be called a point. Unlink a conventionalcentralized antenna system (CAS) (i.e. single node system) in whichantennas are concentrated in an eNB and controlled an eNB controller,plural nodes are spaced apart at a predetermined distance or longer in amulti-node system. The plural nodes can be managed by one or more eNBsor eNB controllers that control operations of the nodes or schedule datato be transmitted/received through the nodes. Each node may be connectedto an eNB or eNB controller managing the corresponding node via a cableor a dedicated line. In the multi-node system, the same cell identity(ID) or different cell IDs may be used for signal transmission/receptionthrough plural nodes. When plural nodes have the same cell ID, each ofthe plural nodes operates as an antenna group of a cell. If nodes havedifferent cell IDs in the multi-node system, the multi-node system canbe regarded as a multi-cell (e.g. macro-cell/femto-cell/pico-cell)system. When multiple cells respectively configured by plural nodes areoverlaid according to coverage, a network configured by multiple cellsis called a multi-tier network. The cell ID of the RRH/RRU may beidentical to or different from the cell ID of an eNB. When the RRH/RRUand eNB use different cell IDs, both the RRH/RRU and eNB operate asindependent eNBs.

In a multi-node system according to the present invention, which will bedescribed below, one or more eNBs or eNB controllers connected to pluralnodes can control the plural nodes such that signals are simultaneouslytransmitted to or received from a UE through some or all nodes. Whilethere is a difference between multi-node systems according to the natureof each node and implementation form of each node, multi-node systemsare discriminated from single node systems (e.g. CAS, conventional MIMOsystems, conventional relay systems, conventional repeater systems,etc.) since a plurality of nodes provides communication services to a UEin a predetermined time-frequency resource. Accordingly, embodiments ofthe present invention with respect to a method of performing coordinateddata transmission using some or all nodes can be applied to varioustypes of multi-node systems. For example, a node refers to an antennagroup spaced apart from another node by a predetermined distance ormore, in general. However, embodiments of the present invention, whichwill be described below, can even be applied to a case in which a noderefers to an arbitrary antenna group irrespective of node interval. Inthe case of an eNB including an X-pole (cross polarized) antenna, forexample, the embodiments of the preset invention are applicable on theassumption that the eNB controls a node composed of an H-pole antennaand a V-pole antenna.

A communication scheme through which signals are transmitted/receivedvia plural transmit (Tx)/receive (Rx) nodes, signals aretransmitted/received via at least one node selected from plural Tx/Rxnodes, or a node transmitting a downlink signal is discriminated from anode transmitting an uplink signal is called multi-eNB MIMO or CoMP(Coordinated Multi-Point Tx/Rx). Coordinated transmission schemes fromamong CoMP communication schemes can be categorized into JP (JointProcessing) and scheduling coordination. The former may be divided intoJT (Joint Transmission)/JR (Joint Reception) and DPS (Dynamic PointSelection) and the latter may be divided into CS (CoordinatedScheduling) and CB (Coordinated Beamforming). DPS may be called DCS(Dynamic Cell Selection). When JP is performed, more variouscommunication environments can be generated, compared to other CoMPschemes. JT refers to a communication scheme by which plural nodestransmit the same stream to a UE and JR refers to a communication schemeby which plural nodes receive the same stream from the UE. The UE/eNBcombine signals received from the plural nodes to restore the stream. Inthe case of JT/JR, signal transmission reliability can be improvedaccording to transmit diversity since the same stream is transmittedfrom/to plural nodes. DPS refers to a communication scheme by which asignal is transmitted/received through a node selected from plural nodesaccording to a specific rule. In the case of DPS, signal transmissionreliability can be improved because a node having a good channel statebetween the node and a UE is selected as a communication node.

In the present invention, a cell refers to a specific geographical areain which one or more nodes provide communication services. Accordingly,communication with a specific cell may mean communication with an eNB ora node providing communication services to the specific cell. Adownlink/uplink signal of a specific cell refers to a downlink/uplinksignal from/to an eNB or a node providing communication services to thespecific cell. A cell providing uplink/downlink communication servicesto a UE is called a serving cell. Furthermore, channel status/quality ofa specific cell refers to channel status/quality of a channel or acommunication link generated between an eNB or a node providingcommunication services to the specific cell and a UE. In 3GPP LTE-Asystems, a UE can measure downlink channel state from a specific nodeusing one or more CSI-RSs (Channel State Information Reference Signals)transmitted through antenna port(s) of the specific node on a CSI-RSresource allocated to the specific node. In general, neighboring nodestransmit CSI-RS resources on orthogonal CSI-RS resources. When CSI-RSresources are orthogonal, this means that the CSI-RS resources havedifferent subframe configurations and/or CSI-RS sequences which specifysubframes to which CSI-RSs are allocated according to CSI-RS resourceconfigurations, subframe offsets and transmission periods, etc. whichspecify symbols and subcarriers carrying the CSI RSs.

In the present invention, PDCCH (Physical Downlink ControlChannel)/PCFICH (Physical Control Format Indicator Channel)/PHICH(Physical Hybrid automatic repeat request Indicator Channel)/PDSCH(Physical Downlink Shared Channel) refer to a set of time-frequencyresources or resource elements respectively carrying DCI (DownlinkControl Information)/CFI (Control Format Indicator)/downlink ACK/NACK(Acknowledgement/Negative ACK)/downlink data. In addition, PUCCH(Physical Uplink Control Channel)/PUSCH (Physical Uplink SharedChannel)/PRACH (Physical Random Access Channel) refer to sets oftime-frequency resources or resource elements respectively carrying UCI(Uplink Control Information)/uplink data/random access signals. In thepresent invention, a time-frequency resource or a resource element (RE),which is allocated to or belongs toPDCCH/PCFICH/PHICH/PDSCH/PUCCH/PUSCH/PRACH, is referred to as aPDCCH/PCFICH/PHICH/PDSCH/PUCCH/PUSCH/PRACH RE orPDCCH/PCFICH/PHICH/PDSCH/PUCCH/PUSCH/PRACH resource. In the followingdescription, transmission of PUCCH/PUSCH/PRACH by a UE is equivalent totransmission of uplink control information/uplink data/random accesssignal through or on PUCCH/PUSCH/PRACH. Furthermore, transmission ofPDCCH/PCFICH/PHICH/PDSCH by an eNB is equivalent to transmission ofdownlink data/control information through or onPDCCH/PCFICH/PHICH/PDSCH.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary radio frame structure used in a wirelesscommunication system. FIG. 1(a) illustrates a frame structure forfrequency division duplex (FDD) used in 3GPP LTE/LTE-A and FIG. 1(b)illustrates a frame structure for time division duplex (TDD) used in3GPP LTE/LTE-A.

Referring to FIG. 1, a radio frame used in 3GPP LTE/LTE-A has a lengthof 10 ms (307200 Ts) and includes 10 subframes in equal size. The 10subframes in the radio frame may be numbered. Here, Ts denotes samplingtime and is represented as Ts=1/(2048*15 kHz). Each subframe has alength of 1 ms and includes two slots. 20 slots in the radio frame canbe sequentially numbered from 0 to 19. Each slot has a length of 0.5 ms.A time for transmitting a subframe is defined as a transmission timeinterval (TTI). Time resources can be discriminated by a radio framenumber (or radio frame index), subframe number (or subframe index) and aslot number (or slot index).

The radio frame can be configured differently according to duplex mode.Downlink transmission is discriminated from uplink transmission byfrequency in FDD mode, and thus the radio frame includes only one of adownlink subframe and an uplink subframe in a specific frequency band.In TDD mode, downlink transmission is discriminated from uplinktransmission by time, and thus the radio frame includes both a downlinksubframe and an uplink subframe in a specific frequency band.

Table 1 shows DL-UL configurations of subframes in a radio frame in theTDD mode.

TABLE 1 Downlink- DL-UL to-Uplink config- Switch-point Subframe numberuration periodicity 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 5 ms D S U U U D S U U U 1 5ms D S U U D D S U U D 2 5 ms D S U D D D S U D D 3 10 ms D S U U U D DD D D 4 10 ms D S U U D D D D D D 5 10 ms D S U D D D D D D D 6 5 ms D SU U U D S U U D

In Table 1, D denotes a downlink subframe, U denotes an uplink subframeand S denotes a special subframe. The special subframe includes threefields of DwPTS (Downlink Pilot TimeSlot), GP (Guard Period), and UpPTS(Uplink Pilot TimeSlot). DwPTS is a period reserved for downlinktransmission and UpPTS is a period reserved for uplink transmission.Table 2 shows special subframe configuration.

TABLE 2 Normal cyclic prefix in downlink Extended cyclic prefix indownlink Special UpPTS UpPTS subframe Normal cyclic Extended cyclicNormal cyclic Extended cyclic configuration DwPTS prefix in uplinkprefix in uplink DwPTS prefix in uplink prefix in uplink 0  6592 · T_(s)2192 · T_(s) 2560 · T_(s)  7680 · T_(s) 2192 · T_(s) 2560 · T_(s) 119760 · T_(s) 20480 · T_(s) 2 21952 · T_(s) 23040 · T_(s) 3 24144 ·T_(s) 25600 · T_(s) 4 26336 · T_(s)  7680 · T_(s) 4384 · T_(s) 5120 ·T_(s) 5  6592 · T_(s) 4384 · T_(s) 5120 · T_(s) 20480 · T_(s) 6 19760 ·T_(s) 23040 · T_(s) 7 21952 · T_(s) 12800 · T_(s) 8 24144 · T_(s) — — —9 13168 · T_(s) — — —

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary downlink/uplink slot structure in awireless communication system. Particularly, FIG. 2 illustrates aresource grid structure in 3GPP LTE/LTE-A. A resource grid is presentper antenna port.

Referring to FIG. 2, a slot includes a plurality of OFDM (OrthogonalFrequency Division Multiplexing) symbols in the time domain and aplurality of resource blocks (RBs) in the frequency domain. An OFDMsymbol may refer to a symbol period. A signal transmitted in each slotmay be represented by a resource grid composed of N_(RB) ^(DL/UL)*N_(sc)^(RB) subcarriers and N_(symb) ^(DL/UL) OFDM symbols. Here, N_(RB) ^(DL)denotes the number of RBs in a downlink slot and N_(RB) ^(UL) denotesthe number of RBs in an uplink slot. N_(RB) ^(DL) and N_(RB) ^(UL)respectively depend on a DL transmission bandwidth and a UL transmissionbandwidth. N_(symb) ^(DL) denotes the number of OFDM symbols in thedownlink slot and N_(symb) ^(UL) denotes the number of OFDM symbols inthe uplink slot. In addition, N_(sc) ^(RB) denotes the number ofsubcarriers constructing one RB.

An OFDM symbol may be called an SC-FDM (Single Carrier FrequencyDivision Multiplexing) symbol according to multiple access scheme. Thenumber of OFDM symbols included in a slot may depend on a channelbandwidth and the length of a cyclic prefix (CP). For example, a slotincludes 7 OFDM symbols in the case of normal CP and 6 OFDM symbols inthe case of extended CP. While FIG. 2 illustrates a subframe in which aslot includes 7 OFDM symbols for convenience, embodiments of the presentinvention can be equally applied to subframes having different numbersof OFDM symbols. Referring to FIG. 2, each OFDM symbol includes N_(RB)^(DL/UL)*N_(sc) ^(RB) subcarriers in the frequency domain. Subcarriertypes can be classified into a data subcarrier for data transmission, areference signal subcarrier for reference signal transmission, and nullsubcarriers for a guard band and a direct current (DC) component. Thenull subcarrier for a DC component is a subcarrier remaining unused andis mapped to a carrier frequency (f0) during OFDM signal generation orfrequency up-conversion. The carrier frequency is also called a centerfrequency.

An RB is defined by N_(symb) ^(DL/UL) (e.g. 7) consecutive OFDM symbolsin the time domain and N_(sc) ^(RB) (e.g. 12) consecutive subcarriers inthe frequency domain. For reference, a resource composed by an OFDMsymbol and a subcarrier is called a resource element (RE) or a tone.Accordingly, an RB is composed of N_(symb) ^(DL/UL)*N_(sc) ^(RB) REs.Each RE in a resource grid can be uniquely defined by an index pair(k, 1) in a slot. Here, k is an index in the range of 0 to N_(symb)^(DL/UL)*N_(sc) ^(RB)−1 in the frequency domain and 1 is an index in therange of 0 to N_(symb) ^(DL/UL)−1.

Two RBs, which occupy N_(sc) ^(RB) same continuous subcarriers for onesubframe and are respectively located at two slots of the subframe, willbe referred to as a pair of physical resource blocks (PRB). The two RBsconstituting the PRB have the same PRB number (or PRB index). A virtualresource block (VRB) is a logical resource allocation unit for resourceallocation. The VRB has the same size as that of the PRB. The VRB may bedivided into a localized VRB and a distributed VRB depending on amapping scheme of VRB into PRB. The localized VRBs are mapped into thePRBs, whereby VRB number (VRB index) corresponds to PRB number. That is,nPRB=nVRB is obtained. Numbers are given to the localized VRBs from 0 toNDLVRB−1, and NDLVRB=NDLRB is obtained. Accordingly, according to thelocalized mapping scheme, the VRBs having the same VRB number are mappedinto the PRBs having the same PRB number at the first slot and thesecond slot. On the other hand, the distributed VRBs are mapped into thePRBs through interleaving. Accordingly, the VRBs having the same VRBnumber may be mapped into the PRBs having different PRB numbers at thefirst slot and the second slot. Two PRBs, which are respectively locatedat two slots of the subframe and have the same VRB number, will bereferred to as a pair of VRBs.

FIG. 3 illustrates a downlink (DL) subframe structure used in 3GPPLTE/LTE-A.

Referring to FIG. 3, a DL subframe is divided into a control region anda data region. A maximum of three (four) OFDM symbols located in a frontportion of a first slot within a subframe correspond to the controlregion to which a control channel is allocated. A resource regionavailable for PDCCH transmission in the DL subframe is referred to as aPDCCH region hereinafter. The remaining OFDM symbols correspond to thedata region to which a physical downlink shared chancel (PDSCH) isallocated. A resource region available for PDSCH transmission in the DLsubframe is referred to as a PDSCH region hereinafter. Examples ofdownlink control channels used in 3GPP LTE include a physical controlformat indicator channel (PCFICH), a physical downlink control channel(PDCCH), a physical hybrid ARQ indicator channel (PHICH), etc. ThePCFICH is transmitted at a first OFDM symbol of a subframe and carriesinformation regarding the number of OFDM symbols used for transmissionof control channels within the subframe. The PHICH is a response ofuplink transmission and carries an HARQ acknowledgment (ACK)/negativeacknowledgment (NACK) signal.

Control information carried on the PDCCH is called downlink controlinformation (DCI). The DCI contains resource allocation information andcontrol information for a UE or a UE group. For example, the DCIincludes a transport format and resource allocation information of adownlink shared channel (DL-SCH), a transport format and resourceallocation information of an uplink shared channel (UL-SCH), paginginformation of a paging channel (PCH), system information on the DL-SCH,information about resource allocation of an upper layer control messagesuch as a random access response transmitted on the PDSCH, a transmitcontrol command set with respect to individual UEs in a UE group, atransmit power control command, information on activation of a voiceover IP (VoIP), downlink assignment index (DAI), etc. The transportformat and resource allocation information of the DL-SCH are also calledDL scheduling information or a DL grant and the transport format andresource allocation information of the UL-SCH are also called ULscheduling information or a UL grant. The size and purpose of DCIcarried on a PDCCH depend on DCI format and the size thereof may bevaried according to coding rate. Various formats, for example, formats 0and 4 for uplink and formats 1, 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 2, 2A, 2B, 2C, 3 and 3Afor downlink, have been defined in 3GPP LTE. Control information such asa hopping flag, information on RB allocation, modulation coding scheme(MCS), redundancy version (RV), new data indicator (NDI), information ontransmit power control (TPC), cyclic shift demodulation reference signal(DMRS), UL index, channel quality information (CQI) request, DLassignment index, HARQ process number, transmitted precoding matrixindicator (TPMI), precoding matrix indicator (PMI), etc. is selected andcombined based on DCI format and transmitted to a UE as DCI.

In general, a DCI format for a UE depends on transmission mode (TM) setfor the UE. In other words, only a DCI format corresponding to aspecific TM can be used for a UE configured in the specific TM.

A PDCCH is transmitted on an aggregation of one or several consecutivecontrol channel elements (CCEs). The CCE is a logical allocation unitused to provide the PDCCH with a coding rate based on a state of a radiochannel. The CCE corresponds to a plurality of resource element groups(REGs). For example, a CCE corresponds to 9 REGs and an REG correspondsto 4 REs. 3GPP LTE defines a CCE set in which a PDCCH can be located foreach UE. A CCE set from which a UE can detect a PDCCH thereof is calleda PDCCH search space, simply, search space. An individual resourcethrough which the PDCCH can be transmitted within the search space iscalled a PDCCH candidate. A set of PDCCH candidates to be monitored bythe UE is defined as the search space. In 3GPP LTE/LTE-A, search spacesfor DCI formats may have different sizes and include a dedicated searchspace and a common search space. The dedicated search space is aUE-specific search space and is configured for each UE. The commonsearch space is configured for a plurality of UEs. The aggregationlevels defining the search space are indicated as follows:

TABLE 3 Search Space Aggregation Level Number of PDCCH Type L Size [inCCEs] candidates M^((L)) UE-specific 1 6 6 2 12 6 4 8 2 8 16 2 Common 416 4 8 16 2

A PDCCH candidate corresponds to 1, 2, 4 or 8 CCEs according to CCEaggregation level. An eNB transmits a PDCCH (DCI) on an arbitrary PDCCHcandidate with in a search space and a UE monitors the search space todetect the PDCCH (DCI). Here, monitoring refers to attempting to decodeeach PDCCH in the corresponding search space according to all monitoredDCI formats. The UE can detect the PDCCH thereof by monitoring pluralPDCCHs. Since the UE does not know the position in which the PDCCHthereof is transmitted, the UE attempts to decode all PDCCHs of thecorresponding DCI format for each subframe until a PDCCH having the IDthereof is detected. This process is called blind detection (or blinddecoding (BD)).

The eNB can transmit data for a UE or a UE group through the dataregion. Data transmitted through the data region may be called userdata. For transmission of the user data, a physical downlink sharedchannel (PDSCH) may be allocated to the data region. A paging channel(PCH) and downlink-shared channel (DL-SCH) are transmitted through thePDSCH. The UE can read data transmitted through the PDSCH by decodingcontrol information transmitted through a PDCCH. Informationrepresenting a UE or a UE group to which data on the PDSCH istransmitted, how the UE or UE group receives and decodes the PDSCH data,etc. is included in the PDCCH and transmitted. For example, if aspecific PDCCH is CRC (cyclic redundancy check)-masked having radionetwork temporary identify (RNTI) of “A” and information about datatransmitted using a radio resource (e.g. frequency position) of “B” andtransmission format information (e.g. transport block size, modulationscheme, coding information, etc.) of “C” is transmitted through aspecific DL subframe, the UE monitors PDCCHs using RNTI information anda UE having the RNTI of “A” detects a PDCCH and receives a PDSCHindicated by “B” and “C” using information about the PDCCH.

A reference signal (RS) to be compared with a data signal is necessaryfor the UE to demodulate a signal received from the eNB. A referencesignal refers to a predetermined signal having a specific waveform,which is transmitted from the eNB to the UE or from the UE to the eNBand known to both the eNB and UE. The reference signal is also called apilot. Reference signals are categorized into a cell-specific RS sharedby all UEs in a cell and a modulation RS (DM RS) dedicated for aspecific UE. A DM RS transmitted by the eNB for demodulation of downlinkdata for a specific UE is called a UE-specific RS. Both or one of DM RSand CRS may be transmitted on downlink. When only the DM RS istransmitted without CRS, an RS for channel measurement needs to beadditionally provided because the DM RS transmitted using the sameprecoder as used for data can be used for demodulation only. Forexample, in 3GPP LTE(-A), CSI-RS corresponding to an additional RS formeasurement is transmitted to the UE such that the UE can measurechannel state information. CSI-RS is transmitted in each transmissionperiod corresponding to a plurality of subframes based on the fact thatchannel state variation with time is not large, unlike CRS transmittedper subframe.

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary uplink subframe structure used in 3GPPLTE/LTE-A.

Referring to FIG. 4, a UL subframe can be divided into a control regionand a data region in the frequency domain. One or more PUCCHs (physicaluplink control channels) can be allocated to the control region to carryuplink control information (UCI). One or more PUSCHs (Physical uplinkshared channels) may be allocated to the data region of the UL subframeto carry user data.

In the UL subframe, subcarriers spaced apart from a DC subcarrier areused as the control region. In other words, subcarriers corresponding toboth ends of a UL transmission bandwidth are assigned to UCItransmission. The DC subcarrier is a component remaining unused forsignal transmission and is mapped to the carrier frequency f0 duringfrequency up-conversion. A PUCCH for a UE is allocated to an RB pairbelonging to resources operating at a carrier frequency and RBsbelonging to the RB pair occupy different subcarriers in two slots.Assignment of the PUCCH in this manner is represented as frequencyhopping of an RB pair allocated to the PUCCH at a slot boundary. Whenfrequency hopping is not applied, the RB pair occupies the samesubcarrier.

The PUCCH can be used to transmit the following control information.

-   -   Scheduling Request (SR): This is information used to request a        UL-SCH resource and is transmitted using On-Off Keying (OOK)        scheme.    -   HARQ ACK/NACK: This is a response signal to a downlink data        packet on a PDSCH and indicates whether the downlink data packet        has been successfully received. A 1-bit ACK/NACK signal is        transmitted as a response to a single downlink codeword and a        2-bit ACK/NACK signal is transmitted as a response to two        downlink codewords. HARQ-ACK responses include positive ACK        (ACK), negative ACK (NACK), discontinuous transmission (DTX) and        NACK/DTX. Here, the term HARQ-ACK is used interchangeably with        the term HARQ ACK/NACK and ACK/NACK.    -   Channel State Indicator (CSI): This is feedback information        about a downlink channel. Feedback information regarding MIMO        includes a rank indicator (RI) and a precoding matrix indicator        (PMI).

The quantity of control information (UCI) that a UE can transmit througha subframe depends on the number of SC-FDMA symbols available forcontrol information transmission. The SC-FDMA symbols available forcontrol information transmission correspond to SC-FDMA symbols otherthan SC-FDMA symbols of the subframe, which are used for referencesignal transmission. In the case of a subframe in which a soundingreference signal (SRS) is configured, the last SC-FDMA symbol of thesubframe is excluded from the SC-FDMA symbols available for controlinformation transmission. A reference signal is used to detect coherenceof the PUCCH. The PUCCH supports various formats according toinformation transmitted thereon. Table 4 shows the mapping relationshipbetween PUCCH formats and UCI in LTE/LTE-A.

TABLE 4 Number of bits per PUCCH Modulation subframe, format schemeM_(bit) Usage Etc. 1  N/A N/A SR (Scheduling Request) 1a BPSK 1 ACK/NACKor One SR + ACK/NACK codeword 1b QPSK 2 ACK/NACK or Two SR + ACK/NACKcodeword 2  QPSK 20 CQI/PMI/RI Joint coding ACK/NACK (extended CP) 2aQPSK + 21 CQI/PMI/RI + Normal CP BPSK ACK/NACK only 2b QPSK + 22CQI/PMI/RI + Normal CP QPSK ACK/NACK only 3  QPSK 48 ACK/NACK or SR +ACK/NACK or CQI/PMI/RI + ACK/NACK

Referring to Table 4, PUCCH formats 1/1a/1b are used to transmitACK/NACK information, PUCCH format 2/2a/2b are used to carry CSI such asCQI/PMI/RI and PUCCH format 3 is used to transmit ACK/NACK information.

Reference Signal (RS)

When a packet is transmitted in a wireless communication system, signaldistortion may occur during transmission since the packet is transmittedthrough a radio channel. To correctly receive a distorted signal at areceiver, the distorted signal needs to be corrected using channelinformation. To detect channel information, a signal known to both atransmitter and the receiver is transmitted and channel information isdetected with a degree of distortion of the signal when the signal isreceived through a channel. This signal is called a pilot signal or areference signal.

When data is transmitted/received using multiple antennas, the receivercan receive a correct signal only when the receiver is aware of achannel state between each transmit antenna and each receive antenna.Accordingly, a reference signal needs to be provided per transmitantenna, more specifically, per antenna port.

Reference signals can be classified into an uplink reference signal anda downlink reference signal. In LTE, the uplink reference signalincludes:

i) a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) for channel estimation forcoherent demodulation of information transmitted through a PUSCH and aPUCCH; and

ii) a sounding reference signal (SRS) used for an eNB to measure uplinkchannel quality at a frequency of a different network.

The downlink reference signal includes:

i) a cell-specific reference signal (CRS) shared by all UEs in a cell;

ii) a UE-specific reference signal for a specific UE only;

iii) a DMRS transmitted for coherent demodulation when a PDSCH istransmitted;

iv) a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) for deliveringchannel state information (CSI) when a downlink DMRS is transmitted;

v) a multimedia broadcast single frequency network (MBSFN) referencesignal transmitted for coherent demodulation of a signal transmitted inMBSFN mode; and

vi) a positioning reference signal used to estimate geographic positioninformation of a UE.

Reference signals can be classified into a reference signal for channelinformation acquisition and a reference signal for data demodulation.The former needs to be transmitted in a wide band as it is used for a UEto acquire channel information on downlink transmission and received bya UE even if the UE does not receive downlink data in a specificsubframe. This reference signal is used even in a handover situation.The latter is transmitted along with a corresponding resource by an eNBwhen the eNB transmits a downlink signal and is used for a UE todemodulate data through channel measurement. This reference signal needsto be transmitted in a region in which data is transmitted.

General EPDCCH (Enhanced PDCCH)

Owing to introduction of a multi-node system, although variouscommunication schemes becomes available in a manner that channel qualityimprovement is achieved, introduction of a new control channel is beingrequested to apply the above-mentioned MIMO scheme and inter-cellcoordinated communication scheme to the multi-node environment. Due tothe above necessity, introduction of a new control channel is anEnhanced PDCCH (EPDCCH) is being intensively discussed, and the newcontrol channel can be allocated to a data region (hereinafter referredto as a PDSCH region) instead of the legacy control region (hereinafterreferred to as a PDCCH region). As a result, node control informationcan be transmitted per UE through EPDCCH, such that the problem ofinsufficiency of the legacy PDCCH region can also be solved. Forreference, EPDCCH is not applied to the legacy UE, and can be receivedby the LTE-A UE only.

FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a carrier aggregation (CA)scheme.

Referring to FIG. 5, EPDCCH may define and use some parts of the PDSCHregion configured to transmit data, and the UE has to perform blinddecoding for detecting the presence or absence of EPDCCH. EPDCCHperforms the same scheduling operation (i.e., PDSCH, PUSCH control) asin the legacy PDCCH. If the number of UEs connected to the same node asin RRH increases, many more EPDCCHs are allocated to the PDSCH region,such that the number of blind decoding times to be executed by the UEincreases, resulting in increased complexity.

Meanwhile, a method for multiplexing EPDCCH for a plurality of UEs needsto be considered. In more detail, according to the multiplexing schemeproposed by the present invention, on the condition that a commonresource region (i.e., a common PRB set) is configured, EPDCCHs ofmultiple UEs can be cross-interleaved to the frequency domain or thetime domain.

FIG. 6 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a method for multiplexingEPDCCH for a plurality of UEs.

Specifically, FIG. 6(a) shows an example in which a common PRB set isconfigured on the basis of a PRB pair and cross increasing is performedon the basis of the common PRB set. In contrast, FIG. 6(b) shows anotherexample in which a common PRB set is configured on a basis of a PRB andcross interleaving is performed on the basis of the common PRB set. Theschemes of FIGS. 6(a) and 6(b) have advantages in which a diversity gainof the time/frequency domains extending a plurality of RBs can beobtained.

Carrier Aggregation (CA)

Carrier aggregation will hereinafter be described in detail. FIG. 7 is aconceptual diagram illustrating carrier aggregation (CA).

Carrier aggregation refers to a method for allowing a UE to use aplurality of frequency blocks or (logical) cells, each of which iscomposed of uplink resources (or CCs) and/or downlink resources (orCCs), as one large logical band so as to provide a wirelesscommunication system with a wider frequency bandwidth. For convenienceof description and better understanding of the present invention,carrier aggregation will hereinafter be referred to as a componentcarrier (CC).

Referring to FIG. 7, the entire system bandwidth (System BW) includes abandwidth of 100 MHz as a logical bandwidth. The entire system bandwidth(system BW) includes five component carriers (CCs) and each CC has amaximum bandwidth of 20 MHz. The CC includes one or more physicallycontiguous subcarriers. Although all CCs have the same bandwidth in FIG.7, this is only exemplary and the CCs may have different bandwidths.Although the CCs are shown as being contiguous in the frequency domainin FIG. 8, FIG. 8 merely shows the logical concept and thus the CCs maybe physically contiguous or separated.

Different center frequencies may be used for the CCs or one commoncenter frequency may be used for physically contiguous CCs. For example,in FIG. 7, if it is assumed that all CCs are physically contiguous, acenter frequency A may be used. If it is assumed that CCs are notphysically contiguous, a center frequency A, a center frequency B andthe like may be used for the respective CCs.

In the present specification, the CC may correspond to a system band ofa legacy system. By defining the CC based on the legacy system, it ispossible to facilitate backward compatibility and system design in aradio communication environment in which an evolved UE and a legacy UEcoexist. For example, if the LTE-A system supports carrier aggregation,each CC may correspond to the system band of the LTE system. In thiscase, the CC may have any one bandwidth such as 1.25, 2.5, 5, 10 or 20MHz.

In the case in which the entire system band is extended by carrieraggregation, a frequency band used for communication with each UE isdefined in CC units. A UE A may use 100 MHz which is the bandwidth ofthe entire system band and perform communication using all five CCs.Each of UEs B1 to B5 may only use a bandwidth of 20 MHz and performcommunication using one CC. Each of UEs C1 and C2 may use a bandwidth of40 MHz and perform communication using two CCs. The two CCs may becontiguous or non-contiguous. The UE C1 uses two non-contiguous CCs andthe UE C2 uses two contiguous CCs.

One downlink CC and one uplink CC may be used in the LTE system andseveral CCs may be used in the LTE-A system. At this time, a method ofscheduling a data channel by a control channel may be divided into alinked carrier scheduling method and a cross carrier scheduling method.

More specifically, in the linked carrier scheduling method, similarly tothe LTE system using a single CC, a control channel transmitted via aspecific CC schedules only a data channel via the specific CC.

In contrast, in the cross carrier scheduling method, a control channeltransmitted via a primary CC using a carrier indicator field (CIF)schedules a data channel transmitted via the primary CC or another CC.

FIG. 8 is a conceptual diagram of a cross carrier scheduling scheme.

Specifically, as can be seen from FIG. 8, the number of cells (or CCs)allocated to a relay node (RN) is set to 3, cross carrier scheduling iscarried out using a CIF as described above. In this case, it is assumedthat a downlink cell (or CC) #A is set to a primary downlink CC (i.e., aprimary cell PCell), and the remaining CCs #B and #C are used assecondary cells (SCells).

The present invention relates to an EPDCCH structure, and moreparticularly to a method for selecting the number of PRBs allocated toEPDCCH and a method for signaling this selection method.

EPDCCH is designed to improve capacity of a control channel, and can betransmitted to the legacy PDSCH region on the basis of DMRS so as toobtain a beamforming region. For EPDCH transmission, the eNB (ornetwork) may signal specific information regarding an EPDCCHtransmission region to each UE. More specifically, the eNB may informthe UE of K EPDCCH sets. Each EPDCCH set is composed of N PRB pairs, anddifferent EPDCCH sets may have different N values. In addition, eachEPCCH set may be classified into a localized EPDCCH transmission purposeand a distributed EPDCCH transmission purpose, and each EPDCCH set mayentirely or partially overlap with another EDPCCH set.

Configuration of N

N indicating the number of PRB pairs constructing each EPDCCH set may beaffected by a bandwidth (BW) of a scheduling cell (hereinafter referredto as PCell) of EPDCCH and a bandwidth (BW) of a cell (hereinafterreferred to as SCell) scheduled by EPDCCH. In case of PCell, if asufficient BW (e.g., a narrow-bandwidth system) is not given, the amountof resources capable of being allocated for EPDCCH is limited, so that arelatively small value needs to be assigned to N. Therefore, the numberof RBs capable of being allocated for EPDCCH is limited according to aPCell BW. If the PCell BW is associated with the upper limit of Nallocated to EPDCCH transmission, SCell BW is associated with the lowestlimit of N allocated to EPDCCH transmission. The higher the SCell BW,the higher the EDPCCH DCI payload, such that a minimum number of RBsneeded for transmission of the corresponding DCI is also increased.Therefore, considering the PCell BW and the SCell BW, N needs to beassigned a higher value than a minimum number of RBs needed for EPDCCHtransmission according to the SCell BW, and the upper limit of N for usein PCell is set to a maximum number of RBs capable of being allocated toEPDCCH transmission.

Therefore, the N value can be properly selected on the basis of a BW ofa PCell in which EPDCCH is transmitted. In one example, a specificthreshold BW value (T1) is decided so that N is set to N1 at BW of T1 orless. If the BW value is higher than T1, N may be set to N2 (N1≦N2). Inthis case, each of N1 and N2 may be the set of N values capable of beingconfigured, and a threshold value may be classified into two or moresteps. For example, N may be decided as represented by the followingequation.

If BW≦T1, then N1 (for example, {2, 4})

Otherwise, N2 (for example, {4, 8})

That is, N may be set to 2 or 4 at a BW that is equal to or less than T1RBs, and N may be set to 4 or 8 at a BW higher than T1 RBs.

In another method, the N value can be properly selected on the basis ofa BW of SCell scheduled by EPDCCH. In one method, a specific thresholdBW value and a T2 value are decided, so that N may be set to N3 at a BWless than T2 and N may be set to N4 at a BW higher than T2 (N3≦N4). Inthis case, each of N3 and N4 may be the set of N values capable of beingconfigured, and a threshold value may be configured according to two ormore steps. For example, N may be decided as represented by thefollowing equation.

If BW≦T2, then N3 (for example, {2, 4})

Otherwise, N4 (for example, {4,8})

That is, N may be set to 2 or 4 at a BW that is equal to or less than T2RBs, and N may be set to 4 or 8 at a BW higher than T2 RBs.

A threshold value of PCell and a threshold value of SCell may besimultaneously applied. In this case, a configurable N value of PCelland a configurable N value of SCell may be different from each other incertain BW combinations from among available BW combinations of PCelland SCell. Therefore, a configuration value of a cell having a smaller Nvalue from among N values of PCell and SCell may be used. In otherwords, the range of configurable N value may be decided according to theSCell BW, and N may be limited to the range of a maximum number of RBscapable of being allocated to PCell.

For example, if a threshold value of PCell and a threshold value ofSCell are simultaneously applied to the above-mentioned example, theconfiguration range of an available N is shown in FIG. 9. If PCell cansupport up to {2, 4} on the condition that SCell supports {4, 8} (i.e.,BW of scheduling cell≦T1 and BW of scheduled cell>T2), the available Nconfiguration range may satisfy values of PCell. Likewise, if SCellsupports up to {2, 4} on the condition that PCell supports {4, 8} (i.e.,BW of scheduling cell>T1 and BW of scheduled cell≦T2), the available Nconfiguration range may satisfy values of SCell.

A detailed description of a method for signaling N to a UE aftercompletion of N decision is as follows.

A method for informing a UE of an index value of a configurable Nthrough RRC signaling will hereinafter be described in detail. If twoconfigurable N values are given as in the case of using the thresholdvalue T1, 1-bit flag can be more simply used. For example, if ‘flag=0’and ‘BW≦T1’ are given, N is set to 2 (N=2). If ‘flag=0’ and ‘BW>T1’ aregiven, N is set to 4 (N=4). If ‘flag=1’ and ‘BW≦T1’ are given, N is setto 4 (N=4). If ‘flag=1’ and ‘BW>T1’ are given, N is set to 8 (N=8).

In another method, a specific threshold value is configured, the UEdetermines whether an objective value is higher than the thresholdvalue, such that it is possible to determine/select which one of Nvalues will be used. The threshold value may be configured in the numberof available REs/PRB pairs, etc.

-   -   The number of available REs/PRB pairs <X_(thresh) (=104)

If BW≦T1, then N={4}

Otherwise, N={8}

-   -   The number of available REs/PRB pairs ≧X_(thresh) (=104)

If BW≦T1, then N={2}

Otherwise, N={4}

For example, the above-mentioned method can be defined as the aboveexpressions, and a detailed description thereof is shown in FIG. 10.

PRB Allocation for EPDCCH Set

As described above, each EPDCCH set may be composed of N PRB pairs, andthe UE may obtain configuration of N PRB pairs constructing an EPDCCHset through RRC signaling. In this case, specific information as towhich PRB from among all PRB sets will be used as EPDCCH may be appliedto the UE using the following scheme.

A method for using bitmap will hereinafter be described. For example,assuming that the entire DL system bandwidth is composed of N_(tot) RBs,specific information as to whether each RB is allocated to EPDCCH may besignaled using N_(tot) bits. If the n-th bit is enabled (i.e., if then-th bit is denoted by “1”), this means that the n-th RB is allocated toEPDCCH. Bits indicating RB(s) are not always sequentially mapped, andmay be mapped in a RB-to-bit format according to a predetermined rule.Two or more RBs are configured to form a first group, such that EPDCCHmay be allocated to the RB group and may be indicated by bitmap.

FIG. 11 shows an example in which the entire band is composed of 15 RBsfor convenience of description and better understanding of the presentinvention. In FIG. 11, bitmap may be configured in any form of (a)010000100001000, (b) 1110001110 00111, and (c) 000001011010110. Assumingthat 3 RBs are configured to form one group as shown in the form (b),the bitmap may be configured as shown in ‘(b) 10101’.

In another method, a combination of a number of a start RB and thenumber of contiguous RBs may be signaled.

In another method, indexes of the corresponding pattern are signaledaccording to the predefined pattern, such that PRB information allocatedto EPDCCH can be transferred. For example, assuming that N RBs areallocated to EPDCCH, floor (i.e., system BW/N) patterns in whichindividual RBs are distributed at equal intervals within the entiresystem band may be considered and used. The eNB or BS may indicate thecorresponding allocation using ceiling(log 2(the number of patterns))bits.

FIG. 11(a) shows the exemplary case of N_(tot)=15 and N=3. If theequal-spacing distribution pattern is defined for the entire systemband, a spacing between RBs constructing a specific pattern is denotedby “15 RB/3=5 RB” and 5 patterns are present. If the smallest RB indexof each pattern is used as the pattern index, FIG. 11(a) shows aspecific pattern corresponding to ‘pattern index=1’ from among 5patterns.

Through a combination of intervals that are not defined by an arbitrarystart PRB index and a system bandwidth/N, PRBs spaced apart from thecorresponding start PRB index by a predetermined distance can beselected for EPDCCH. In this case, if indexes (or locations) of PRBpairs constructing the corresponding EPDCCH set exceed the range of asystem BW, a cyclic shifting calculation scheme of the correspondingPRB-pair index (or location) may be used. In this case, the cyclicshifting calculation scheme may be represented by “PRB pair index (orlocation) mod the number of PRB pairs constructing the system BW”.

Likewise, the pattern may also be constructed using a combination ofintervals that are not defined by the arbitrary start PRB index and thesystem BW/N, and an arbitrary pattern may be defined so that indexes maybe allocated to each pattern.

Aggregation Level and Construction of the Number of Corresponding BlindDecoding Times

On the other hand, if N (i.e., the number of PRB pairs) allocated toEPDCCH has a low value in the same manner as in the narrow band system,it may be difficult to construct a search space in a high aggregationlevel (AL). For example, if N=2 is configured, each PRB pair includes 4ECCEs, it may be impossible to configure the search space of AL=8 orhigher. If each PRB pair includes 2 ECCEs, it may be impossible toconfigure the search space of AL=4 or higher. Therefore, the searchspace of the corresponding AL may be allocated to another AL. That is,blind decoding complexity (i.e., the number of blind decoding attempts)of the EPDCCH set of the UE is constantly maintained, resulting inperformance improvement.

Therefore, the number of blind decoding times of each AL (i.e., thenumber of PDCCH candidates) may be differently configured according toeach EPDCCH set allocated to the UE. For example, if ALs higher than thenumber of ECCEs contained in the EPDCCH set are configured, all theePDCCH candidates for the corresponding ALs may be allocated to thelowest AL or may be maximally and evenly allocated to ALs lower than thecorresponding AL. For example, assuming that {6,6,2,2} is assigned toPDCCH or ePDCCH candidate (hereinafter referred to as a candidate)associated with AL={1,2,4,8}, if N=2 and the number of ECCEs per PRBpair (i.e., # of ECCE/PRB pair) is set to 2, the number of ECCEs perEPDCCH set (# of ECCE/EPDCCH set) is set to 4, BLD for AL=8 is notperformed. Therefore, two candidates capable of being allocated to AL=8are not initially allocated ({circle around (1)}), may be allocated toAL=1 corresponding to the lowest AL ({circle around (2)}), or and may besequentially allocated in the range from the lowest AL to a maximumallowable AL ({circle around (3)}).

TABLE 5 #of BD Aggregation level Legacy 1 6 6 8 7 2 6 6 6 7 4 2 2 2 2 82 0 0 0

The number of candidates for each AL may be transferred to the UEthrough RRC signaling or the like. That is, the eNB may configure notonly N but also the number of candidates of each Al when configuring theEPDCCH set. For example, when one EPDCCH set is configured, the numberof BD attempt times may be set to (# of BD)={6,6,2,2} in associationwith each of AL={1, 2, 4, 8}. In order to reduce signaling overhead, thenumber of configurable combinations of (# of BD) is preset to a finitenumber and may be configured by the corresponding indexes only.

TABLE 6 index # of BD for each aggregation level 0 {6, 6, 2, 2} 1 {8, 4,2, 2} 2 {4, 4, 4, 4} . . . . . .

It is obvious to those skilled in the art that the term “AL” describedin the above-mentioned embodiment is only exemplary and may be set toanother value through the predefined rule or signaling. Likewise, thenumber of BD attempt times interworking with (or allocated to) aspecific AL may be assigned a different value (through the predefinedrule or signaling). For example, in association with this differentvalue, the number of BD attempts associated with each of AL={1, 2, 4, 8}may be respectively configured as {6,6,2,2}.

In this case, exception processing of the case in which the number (# ofECCE within a configured EPDCCH set) of ECCEs contained in theconfigured EPDCCH set is less than a specific AL may be directly orindirectly carried out. In case of using the direct scheme, the eNBselects an appropriate scheme and re-distributes the number ofcandidates so as to perform UE reconfiguration, or the eNB may transferan index corresponding to a new combination to the UE.

In case of using the indirect scheme, if exception occurs, the UE mayperform exception processing according to a predetermined rule. Forexample, assuming that an exception processing matter between the eNBand the UE occurs and the scheme {circle around (1)} is promised to beused, the UE does not perform blind decoding (BD) for a non-supportedAL, and satisfies initial configuration of the remaining AL withoutchange.

In case that the number (# of ECCE within a configured EPDCCH set) ofECCEs in the configured EPDCCH set is less than a specific AL, (# ofECCE within a configured EPDCCH set) may be affected by the N value, theAL at which the number (# of ECCE/PRB pair) of ECCEs per PRB pair shouldbe changed or supported is changed to another, the above-mentioned casemay occur.

In accordance with one example in which the number (# of ECCE within aconfigured EPDCCH set) of ECCEs contained in the configured EPDCCH setis changed to another in association with the same N, the number (# ofECCE/PRB pair) of ECCEs per PRB pair in a specific-type subframe such asa special subframe may be reduced to 1/k of another subframe. In thiscase, if N is set to the same value, the number “(# of ECCE within aconfigured EPDCCH set) (=# of ECCE within N PRB pair)” of ECCEscontained in the configured EPDCCH set may be reduced to 1/k. In anotherexample, AL may be changed to another and CSI-RS signals may beallocated to the corresponding subframe, and the number (# of RE/PRBpair) of REs per available PRB pair is reduced to 1/m. In this case, ALto be supported is increased m times, and a detailed description thereofis summarized as follows.

# of ECCE within N PRB pair ≦(or <) AL may occur in the following cases1), 2), and 3).

1) N is reduced→N configuration may be achieved for N increment

2) # of ECCE/PRB pair reduction

3) AL increment

The first case (1) and a method for allocating the number of BD attempttimes for use in the first case (1) have already been disclosed. As oneexample of the second case (2), if “# of ECCE/PRB pair=4” is decided atN=2, this means that AL may be assigned a maximum value of 8 as denotedby AL=8. However, if “# of ECCE/PRB pair” is changed to 2 (# of ECCE/PRBpair=2), AL may be assigned a maximum value of 4 as denoted by AL=4. Asone example of the third case (3), when (# of RE/PRB pair) is reduced to104 or less, there may arise another case in which AL to be supportedmay be changed from {1,2,4,8} to {2,4,8,16}. If the number of availableREs per PRB pair is less than 104, it may be difficult to transmit DCIpayload using only one ECCE. For example, a normal subframe having anormal CP may be configured by 4 ECCEs per PRB pair. In this case, ifthe number of available REs per PRB pair is less than 104, 26 or lessREs may be contained in each ECCE, so that it may be difficult toperform DCI loading. Accordingly, a minimum AL is increase by one step,and many more ECCEs are contained in EPDCCH, such that DCI can betransmitted. In this case, if N=2 and “# of ECCE/PRB pair=4” are given,it may be impossible to configure “AL=16”.

Even in the second case 2) and the third case 3), if a non-supported ALoccurs in the same manner as in the first case 1), the number (i.e., thenumber of EPDCCH candidates) of BD attempts allocated to thecorresponding AL may be allocated to another AL using any one of thethird methods ({circle around (1)}, {circle around (2)}, and {circlearound (3)}).

A different value may be assigned to AL as necessary. For example, ALmay be limited to 4 or less only in the case of localized transmission(so that all candidates can be configured in one PRB pair.) As describedabove, if only AL having a smaller range than the preconfigured ALcombination is supported, the number of BD attempts for each AL may bederived and decided from the number of BD attempts for the preconfiguredAL combination using any one of the above-mentioned methods ({circlearound (1)}, {circle around (2)}, and {circle around (3)}).

BD Candidate Allocation for Plural EPDCCH Sets

On the other hand, the UE may be configured as at least two EPDCCH sets.In this case, the BD candidate may be classified according to eachEPDCCH set, and the number of candidates allocated to available Als ofeach EPDCCH set may be configured by the network or may be decided by animplicit rule. However, a total number of BD candidates needs to bemaintained at a level similar to the legacy level.

In order to allocate the number of BD candidates according to theimplicit rule, it is necessary to design a predetermined rule applicableto the number of configurable EPDCCH sets, a transmission (Tx) mode, andan available Al combination. For example, a maximum of two EPDCCH setsmay be configured, and AL may consider an exemplary case in which eachEPDCCH set can support {1, 2, 4, 8}. In this case, the number of BDcandidates may be decided as shown in the following Table 7.

TABLE 7 AL Set 1 Set 2 1(2) 3 3 2(4) 3 3 4(8) 1 1  8(16) 1 1

If a specific set cannot support all ALs, BD performance for anon-supported AL may be independently distributed to another AL for eachset, or BD for the corresponding AL may not be performed.

In another method, the number of BD candidates for each AL may beconstantly maintained within the entire set. If all ALs are notsupported in a specific set and the remaining sets support thecorresponding AL, the BD candidate for the non-supported AL can besupported from the remaining sets. If the corresponding AL is notsupported even in other sets, reallocation of the BD candidate can beachieved within the same set. In this case, another set may include alegacy PDCCH. In case of (# of REs/PRB pair<X_(thresh)), if asupportable Al is changed to {2,4,8,16} and the number (N1) of PRB pairsof the set 1 is set to 2, it is impossible to construct “AL=16” in thecorresponding set, and two candidates can be allocated to “AL=16” of theset 2. If the number (N2) of PRB pairs of the set 2 is not sufficient tosupport to the two candidates (for example, N2=4), the corresponding BDcandidate may be allocated to AL=2 or the like.

TABLE 8 Set 1 (N1 = 2) Set 2 (N2 = 8) 2 3 3 4 3 3 8 1 1 16 0 2

TABLE 9 Set 1 (N1 = 2) Set 2 (N2 = 4) 2 3 4 4 3 3 8 1 1 16 0 1

On the other hand, a primary set having a predetermined level of N isdefined, and a secondary set having special limitation to N may bedefined within the configurable range. A predetermined value is assignedto the level (N) of the primary set, and a minimum N value capable ofsupporting a maximum AL can be promised in the arbitrary configuration.For example, assuming that “# of ECCEs/PRB pair=4” and “maximum AL=16”are given, or assuming that “# of ECCEs/PRB pair=2” and “maximum AL=8”are given, if a maximum value of N is given, a minimum N value of theprimary set may be set to 4. In this case, if it is impossible to assigna predetermined number or higher to a maximum number of AL candidates(the candidate mapped to the same ECCE occurs), it is necessary toconfigure the N value in consideration of a maximum number ofcandidates. For example, if N=4 is given, only one candidate for AL=8can be configured. Therefore, if two or more candidates of AL=8 areallocated, N of the primary set may be assigned 8 or higher.

Since the primary set guarantees a maximum AL, AL is classified into ahigh AL “high” and a low AL “low”, ALs contained in “high” may beassigned to the primary set, and ALs contained in “low” may be assignedto the secondary set. As an absolute method for discriminating between“high” and “low”, an arbitrary AL (e.g., AL=4) or higher may beconfigured in “high”. Alternatively, the above-mentioned method may alsobe decided in consideration of a relative level of the configurable AL.For example, in case of supporting “AL=1, 2, 4, 8”, AL=1,2 may beidentified by “low” and AL=4,8 may be identified by “high”. If (# ofREs/PRB pair<X_(thresh)) is changed and AL is also changed to{2,4,8,16}, AL=2,4 may be identified by “low” and AL=8,16 may beidentified by “high”. In case of using the above-mentioned method, theBD candidate is allocated as follows.

TABLE 10 AL Primary Set (N1 = 8) Secondary Set (N2 = 2) 1(2) 0 6 2(4) 06 4(8) 2 0  8(16) 2 0

In case of the secondary set, assuming that it is impossible toconfigure a specific AL at the configured N value due to insufficiencyof available resources, the corresponding AL candidate may be allocatedonly to the primary set. For example, assuming that the secondary set isconfigured as N2=2 and (# of REs/PRB_(pair)<X_(thresh)) is given, if ALis changed from {1,2,4,8} to {2,4,8,16}, it is impossible to configurethe candidate having AL=16 within the secondary set. In this case, thecandidate corresponding to AL=16 may be entirely allocated to theprimary et.

TABLE 11 AL Primary Set (N1 = 8) Secondary Set (N2 = 2) 2 3 3 4 3 3 8 11 16 2 0

The above-mentioned concept can also be applied to the exemplary case(See Table 10) in which AL is classified into a high AL “high” and a lowAL “low” so that only the low AL can be allocated. Although only the lowAL is assigned, an excessively low value may be assigned to N, or thesubframe type is changed, such that a higher N value is needed for thesame AL due to reduction of “# of ECCE/PRB pair”. (Likewise, due toreduction of (# of RE/PRB pair), AL is increased so that a higher Nvalue is needed for the same DCI transmission).

The implicit rule is applied to the above-mentioned scheme. Assumingthat AL for each EPDCCH set and the number of BD candidatescorresponding to each AL are predefined, the above-mentioned scheme maybe used when arbitrary EPDCCH sets are allocated. In another method, thenetwork allocates the number of BD candidates for each EPDCCH set andmay inform the UE of the allocated information. In this case, thenetwork may allocate the BD candidate to AL of each set using the samemethod.

If the network configures the number of BD candidates, an arbitrarycombination having full flexibility may be considered under limitation(having a similar level as in the legacy art) regarding a total numberof BD candidates. In this case, non-negligible overhead may occur.Accordingly, the number of BD candidates may be calculated according tothe implicit rule, and an exceptional situation in which a specific ALcannot be configured at the same N value due to change of the subframetype can be decided according to the implicit rule.

Exceptional processing in which the number of ECCEs contained in theconfigured EPDCCH set is less than AL has already been disclosed indetail. That is, when the number of BD candidates is allocated to eachAL, the number of candidates capable of being configured by a specificAL may be limited. As described above, if it is impossible to constructas many candidates as a predetermined number of BD candidates in thecorresponding AL, the number of the remaining BD candidates is allocatedto another AL. In this case, the number of remaining candidates may bere-allocated in a manner that the remaining BD candidates cansequentially fill the individual ALs starting from the highest AL fromamong ALs of the corresponding AL or less. That is, the number ofredundant BD candidates obtained after the BD candidates are allocatedto a maximum AL from among ALs of the corresponding AL or less may beprimarily allocated to the next high AL, such that this BD candidateallocation scheme can be repeated as described above. Theabove-mentioned process may be performed to the range of the smallestAL, or may be repeatedly performed to a predetermined minimum AL. If theremaining BD candidates are present after completion of allocation to aminimum AL within the corresponding set, the corresponding BD candidatemay not be allocated any more, or may be transferred to another set.

As described above, the operation for giving priority of the BDcandidate allocation to a high AL may be used to guarantee candidatesfor the case in which DCI is transmitted using the high AL. That is,assuming the operation for constructing a relatively high AL is limitedby the number of ECCEs constructing EPDCCH, the corresponding candidateis reallocated to the next order AL (i.e., the next high AL), such thatit has fairness with the relatively low AL. For example, if a high AL isneeded in a poor channel environment, the operation for allocating anadditional candidate to the low AL having a sufficient number ofcandidates may be meaningless.

For example, if a reference (AL=L) is provided in a given situation, itis assumed that {6, 6, 2, 2} BD candidates can be allocated to AL=L, 2L,4L, 8L, respectively, such that the above-mentioned embodiment is basedon the above assumption. In this case, assuming that 8 PRB pairs aregiven, a total of 32 ECCEs may be generated and a reference (L=4) isassumed, and it is also assumed that AL=32 is not present due toconsumption of the excessive amount of resources. Two candidates forAL=32 corresponding to 8L may be allocated to another AL, and mayattempt to perform allocation to the highest AL (AL=16) from among ALslower than ‘AL=32’, and two candidates present in ‘AL=16’ consume all of32 ECCEs, such that it is impossible to allocate the additionalcandidate to AL=16. Therefore, allocation to AL=8 corresponding to thenext AL is attempted, and 32 ECCEs can make a total of four ‘AL=8’candidates, such that two candidates from among 6 allocation candidatesremain unused. Therefore, a total of four redundant candidates mayattempt to perform allocation to AL=4. A total of 8 candidates may bepresent in case of AL=8, such that two redundant candidates areallocated to AL=4 and the last two redundant candidates are allocated toAL=2. As a result, {0, 2, 8, 4, 2} candidates are respectively allocatedto AL=1, 2, 4, 8, 16.

The following Table 12 shows an exemplary case in which the BS candidateis allocated in response to each situation. In this case, if a referencelevel is set to 4, it is assumed that no ePDCCH set is configured as twoPRB pairs, and it is also assumed that AL=1 is not present in case of“Reference L=4”.

TABLE 12 Reference L = 1 Reference L = 2 Reference L = 4 2 PRB pairs {8,4, 2, 1, 0} {0, 4, 2, 1, 0} — 4 PRB pairs {6, 6, 2, 2, 0} {0, 8, 4, 2,1} {0, 8, 4, 2, 1} 8 PRB pairs {6, 6, 2, 2, 0} {0, 6, 6, 2, 2} {0, 2, 8,4, 2}

In addition, the following table shows an exemplary case in which the BDcandidate is allocated to two EPDCCH sets on the basis of a referenceapplied to the above-mentioned embodiment. In this case, N1 denotes thenumber of PRB pairs of a first EPDCCH set 1, and N2 denotes the numberof PRB pairs of a second EPDCCH set 2. BW denotes a system bandwidth,and Min AL indicates a minimum AL capable of being transmitted in agiven subframe. MinAL may be changed in the case in which the number ofavailable REs per PRB pair is at a relatively low number as describedabove. For example, if the number of available REs per PRB pair is lessthan 104, MinAL may be changed to 2. The reference L for use in thefollowing table is assumed as follows.

Reference L=4

-   -   Case in which Min AL is 2 (MinAL=2) and DCI format 2 series are        used under the condition that BW is larger than 25*RB

Reference L=2

-   -   Case in which Min AL is 2 (MinAL=2) and DCI format 0/1 series        are used under the condition that BW is larger than 25*RB    -   Case in which Min AL is 1 (MinAL=1) and DCI format 2 series are        used under the condition that BW is larger than 25*RB    -   Case in which Min AL is 2 (MinAL=2) and DCI format 0/1 series        are used under the condition that BW is larger than 25*RB    -   Case in which Min AL is 2 (MinAL=2) and DCI format 2 series are        used under the condition that BW is larger than 25*RB

Reference L=1

In the remaining cases other than the above cases:

In this case, it is assumed that the BD candidate is equally allocatedto each EPDCCH set. That is, generally, {3,3,1,1} candidates arerespectively allocated to AL=L, 2L, 4L, 8L.

TABLE 13 Min AL = 1 Min AL = 2 DCI format DCI format DCI format DCIformat BW N1 N2 0/1/1A/. . . 2/2B/2C/2D . . . 0/1/1A/. . . 2/2B/2C/2D .. . <=25 RB 2 0 {8, 4, 2, 1, 0}, {8, 4, 2, 1, 0}, {0, 4, 2, 1, 0}, {0,4, 2, 1, 0}, {0, 0, 0, 0, 0} {0, 0, 0, 0, 0} {0, 0, 0, 0, 0} {0, 0, 0,0, 0} <=25 RB 2 2 {3, 3, 1, 1, 0}, {3, 3, 1, 1, 0}, {0, 4, 2, 1, 0}, {0,4, 2, 1, 0}, {3, 3, 1, 1, 0} {3, 3, 1, 1, 0} {0, 4, 2, 1, 0} {0, 4, 2,1, 0} <=25 RB 4 0 {6, 6, 2, 2, 0}, {6, 6, 2, 2, 0}, {0, 8, 4, 2, 1}, {0,8, 4, 2, 1}, {0, 0, 0, 0, 0} {0, 0, 0, 0, 0} {0, 0, 0, 0, 0} {0, 0, 0,0, 0} <=25 RB 4 2 {3, 3, 1, 1, 0}, {3, 3, 1, 1, 0}, {0, 3, 3, 1, 1}, {0,3, 3, 1, 1}, {3, 3, 1, 1, 0} {3, 3, 1, 1, 0} {0, 4, 2, 1, 0} {0, 4, 2,1, 0} <=25 RB 4 4 {3, 3, 1, 1, 0}, {3, 3, 1, 1, 0}, {0, 3, 3, 1, 1}, {0,3, 3, 1, 1}, {3, 3, 1, 1, 0} {3, 3, 1, 1, 0} {0, 3, 3, 1, 1} {0, 3, 3,1, 1} >25 RB 4 0 {6, 6, 2, 2, 0}, {0, 8, 4, 2, 1}, {0, 8, 4, 2, 1}, {0,8, 4, 2, 1}, {0, 0, 0, 0, 0} {0, 0, 0, 0, 0} {0, 0, 0, 0, 0} {0, 0, 0,0, 0} >25 RB 4 4 {3, 3, 1, 1, 0}, {0, 3, 3, 1, 1}, {0, 3, 3, 1, 1}, {0,1, 4, 2, 1}, {3, 3, 1, 1, 0} {0, 3, 3, 1, 1} {0, 3, 3, 1, 1} {0, 1, 4,2, 1}, >25 RB 8 0 {6, 6, 2, 2, 0}, {0, 6, 6, 2, 2}, {0, 6, 6, 2, 2}, {0,2, 8, 4, 2}, {0, 0, 0, 0, 0} {0, 0, 0, 0, 0} {0, 0, 0, 0, 0} {0, 0, 0,0, 0} >25 RB 8 4 {3, 3, 1, 1, 0}, {0, 3, 3, 1, 1}, {0, 3, 3, 1, 1}, {0,0, 3, 3, 2}, {3, 3, 1, 1, 0} {0, 3, 3, 1, 1} {0, 3, 3, 1, 1} {0, 1, 4,2, 1}

The reference level L is not always limited to values used in the aboveexample, and is not always fixed to values used in the above table. Thatis, L may also be set to any of the remaining values other than 1, 2,and 4. EPDCCH localized or distribute scheme and other EPDCCH propertiesare additionally considered so that other L values may also beconsidered in the same condition as in the above table.

On the other hand, when a certain configuration is achieved throughcomparison between a specific threshold value and other values accordingto the embodiments, it is obvious to those skilled in the art that theterm (“below” or “above”) including a specific threshold value, or theterm (“less than” or “higher than”) including the specific thresholdvalue may or may not include a specific threshold value.

Meanwhile, the reference level L for each EPDCCH set may be differentlyconfigured. For example, each EPDCCH set may be transferred fromdifferent TPs according to the same scenario as in DPS. In this case, IfTP1 uses 2-port-CRS and TP2 uses 4-port-CRS, the number of available REsof EPDCCH set 1 transmitted from TP1 in a single PRB pair may be higherthan X_(thresh), and the number of available REs of EPDCCH set 2transmitted from TP2 may be less than X_(thresh). Accordingly, thereference level L for use in EPDCCH set 1 may be assigned L1=1, and thereference level L for use in EPDCCH set 2 may be assigned L2=2.

As described above, if different reference levels (L) are assigned toindividual EPDCCH sets, the following two schemes for splitting the BDcandidate to the individual sets may be used.

First Step: Assuming that individual EPDCCH sets have the same referencelevel L and the BD candidate is split, splitting of the BD candidate isperformed.

That is, assuming that L1=1 of EPDCCH set 1 and L2=2 of EPDCCH set 2 aregiven, it is assumed that L=1 is assigned to two sets or the BDcandidate can be split on the assumption of L=2. For example, if N1=4and L1=1 are assigned for the set 1, and if the N2=8 and L2=2 areassigned for the set 2, BD allocation can be achieved as follows.

-   -   Set 1: If L=1 and N1=4 are given, (# of BD        candidate={3,3,1,1,0}) for AL={1,2,4,8,16} can be decided.    -   Set 2: If L=1 and N2=8 are given, (# of BD        candidate={3,3,1,1,0}) for AL={1,2,4,8,16} can decided.

Second Step: Different L values can be corrected. In the first step,assuming that BD allocation is performed at L=L1 (i.e., if it is assumedthat the reference level L is set to L1 in the first step on thecondition that L1 and L2 are different from each other), it is necessaryto coordinate AL of the BD candidate of EPDCCH set (i.e., EPDCCH set 2)having L2. If it is impossible to support all the BD candidatesallocated to a maximum AL after completion of coordination, a redundantBD candidate incapable of supporting other ALs can be reallocated. Thereallocation scheme may use any one of the above-mentioned schemes. Thefollowing sets 1 and 2 can be obtained through coordination of BDallocation of the set 2.

-   -   Set 1: If L=1 and N1=4 are given, (# of BD        candidate={3,3,1,1,0}) for AL={1,2,4,8,16} can be decided.    -   Set 2: If L2=2 and N2=8 are given, (# of BD        candidate={0,3,3,1,1}) for AL={1,2,4,8,16} can decided.

In this case, information as to which one of EPDCCH sets will be used asthe reference L of the first step and information as to which one ofEPDCCH sets will be corrected in the second step are of littleimportance. That is, although the first step is performed on the basisof EPDCCH Set 1 and L=1, and correction is performed in the second stepon the basis of EPDCCH Set 2 and L2=2 for convenience of description,the scope or spirit of the present invention is not limited thereto.

For example, the above-mentioned operation may also be carried out onthe basis of the EPDCCH set transmitted by a serving cell. Assuming thatthe EPDCCH set transmitted by the serving cell is denoted by Set 1 andL1=2, and the EPDCCH set 2 transmitted from other TPs is denoted byL2=1, the first step is performed at the reference level (L=2) and BDallocation of the EPDCCH set 2 can be coordinated in the second step.Alternatively, the above-mentioned operation may also be performed onthe basis of a minimum L from among EPDCCH sets. In this case, thereference level (L2=1) of the EPDCCH set 2 transmitted at TP2 is used asa reference of the first step so as to assume L1=1, and BD allocation ofthe EPDCCH set 1 can be coordinated in the second step.

Meanwhile, if the BD candidate is allocated to two or more EPDCCH sets,different numbers of BD candidates related to individual sets may beallocated to individual sets. For example, the number of candidates perset may be defined by a function for N and L. For example, N/L is usedas a reference of BD splitting so as to reflect the number of availableREs. In this case, if different N values are assigned to the same L,different numbers of BD may be assigned to individual sets. If differentL values are assigned to the same N, different numbers of BD may beassigned to individual sets. In contrast, although different N and Lvalues are assigned to individual sets, if the same N/L values aregiven, the same number of BD can be allocated to the individual sets.

Therefore, as one method for considering the N/L values during BDsplitting for each set, the number of BD candidates for each set may beproportional to the N/L values of each set. In this case, if the sameN/L values are achieved in individual sets, the BD candidate may beevenly distributed to the individual sets.

For example, assuming that N1=4 and L1=1 are assigned for the set 1 andN2=8 and L2=2 are assigned for the set 2, the BD candidate can beallocated as described above.

-   -   Set 1: If L1=1 and N1=4 are given, N1//L1=4 and (# of BD        candidate={3,3,1,1,0}) for AL={1,2,4,8,16} can be decided.    -   Set 2: If L2=2 and N2=8 are given, N2/L2=4 and (# of BD        candidate={0,3,3,1,1}) for AL={1,2,4,8,16} can decided.

That is, since N I/L1=4 for the set 1 and N2/L2=4 for the set 2 aregiven, the set 1 and the set 2 may have the same number of BDcandidates. {3,3,1,1,0} is assigned to EPDCCH Set 1, and {0,3,3,1,1} isassigned to EPDCCH Set 2 through coordination of BD candidateallocation.

For example, assuming that N1=4 and L1=1 are assigned for the set 1 andN2=8 and L2=1 are assigned for the set 2, the BD candidate can beallocated as described above. In this case, the number of BD candidatefor each AL is divided in the ratio of N1/L1 to N2/L2 (i.e., the ratioof 1:2). If the division result is not denoted by other values insteadof an integer, this result is processed by a round function.

-   -   Set 1: If L1=1 and N1=4 are given, N1//L1=4 and (# of BD        candidate={2,2,1,1,0}) for AL={1,2,4,8,16} can be decided.    -   Set 2: If L2=1 and N2=8 are given, N2/L2=8 and (# of BD        candidate={4,4,1,1,0}) for AL={1,2,4,8,16} can decided.

That is, assuming that N1/L1=4 of the set 1 and N2/L2=8 of the set 2 aregiven, N1/L1: N2/L2=1:2 is given, the number of BD candidates allocatedto the set 2 may be double that of the number of BD candidates allocatedto the set 1.

If the BD candidate is allocated not only for one case in which N1=4 andL1=1 are provided in consideration of N/L of the first step from amongtwo steps, but also for the other case in which N2=8 and L2=2 areprovided in consideration of N/L, the following results can be obtained.

First Step—Assuming that L=L1=L2=1 is assumed for two sets, the BDcandidate for the sets is divided on the basis of N/L.

-   -   Set 1: L1=1, N1=4, # of BD candidate={2,2,1,1,0} for        AL={1,2,4,8,16}    -   Set 2: L2=1, N2=8, # of BD candidate={4,4,1,1,0} for        AL={1,2,4,8,16}

Second Step—Correction of the Set 2

-   -   Set 1: L1=1, N1=4, # of BD candidate={2,2,1,1,0} for        AL={1,2,4,8,16}    -   Set 2: L2=2, N2=8, # of BD candidate={0,4,4,1,1} for        AL={1,2,4,8,16}

FIG. 12 is a block diagram of a transmitting device 10 and a receivingdevice 20 configured to implement exemplary embodiments of the presentinvention. Referring to FIG. 12, the transmitting device 10 and thereceiving device 20 respectively include radio frequency (RF) units 13and 23 for transmitting and receiving radio signals carryinginformation, data, signals, and/or messages, memories 12 and 22 forstoring information related to communication in a wireless communicationsystem, and processors 11 and 21 connected operationally to the RF units13 and 23 and the memories 12 and 22 and configured to control thememories 12 and 22 and/or the RF units 13 and 23 so as to perform atleast one of the above-described embodiments of the present invention.

The memories 12 and 22 may store programs for processing and control ofthe processors 11 and 21 and may temporarily storing input/outputinformation. The memories 12 and 22 may be used as buffers. Theprocessors 11 and 21 control the overall operation of various modules inthe transmitting device 10 or the receiving device 20. The processors 11and 21 may perform various control functions to implement the presentinvention. The processors 11 and 21 may be controllers,microcontrollers, microprocessors, or microcomputers. The processors 11and 21 may be implemented by hardware, firmware, software, or acombination thereof. In a hardware configuration, Application SpecificIntegrated Circuits (ASICs), Digital Signal Processors (DSPs), DigitalSignal Processing Devices (DSPDs), Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs), orField Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) may be included in the processors11 and 21. If the present invention is implemented using firmware orsoftware, firmware or software may be configured to include modules,procedures, functions, etc. performing the functions or operations ofthe present invention. Firmware or software configured to perform thepresent invention may be included in the processors 11 and 21 or storedin the memories 12 and 22 so as to be driven by the processors 11 and21.

The processor 11 of the transmitting device 10 is scheduled from theprocessor 11 or a scheduler connected to the processor 11 and codes andmodulates signals and/or data to be transmitted to the outside. Thecoded and modulated signals and/or data are transmitted to the RF unit13. For example, the processor 11 converts a data stream to betransmitted into K layers through demultiplexing, channel coding,scrambling and modulation. The coded data stream is also referred to asa codeword and is equivalent to a transport block which is a data blockprovided by a MAC layer. One transport block (TB) is coded into onecodeword and each codeword is transmitted to the receiving device in theform of one or more layers. For frequency up-conversion, the RF unit 13may include an oscillator. The RF unit 13 may include Nt (where Nt is apositive integer) transmit antennas.

A signal processing process of the receiving device 20 is the reverse ofthe signal processing process of the transmitting device 10. Under thecontrol of the processor 21, the RF unit 23 of the receiving device 10receives RF signals transmitted by the transmitting device 10. The RFunit 23 may include Nr receive antennas and frequency down-converts eachsignal received through receive antennas into a baseband signal. The RFunit 23 may include an oscillator for frequency down-conversion. Theprocessor 21 decodes and demodulates the radio signals received throughthe receive antennas and restores data that the transmitting device 10wishes to transmit.

The RF units 13 and 23 include one or more antennas. An antenna performsa function of transmitting signals processed by the RF units 13 and 23to the exterior or receiving radio signals from the exterior to transferthe radio signals to the RF units 13 and 23. The antenna may also becalled an antenna port. Each antenna may correspond to one physicalantenna or may be configured by a combination of more than one physicalantenna element. A signal transmitted through each antenna cannot bedecomposed by the receiving device 20. A reference signal (RS)transmitted through an antenna defines the corresponding antenna viewedfrom the receiving device 20 and enables the receiving device 20 toperform channel estimation for the antenna, irrespective of whether achannel is a single RF channel from one physical antenna or a compositechannel from a plurality of physical antenna elements including theantenna. That is, an antenna is defined such that a channel transmittinga symbol on the antenna may be derived from the channel transmittinganother symbol on the same antenna. An RF unit supporting a MIMOfunction of transmitting and receiving data using a plurality ofantennas may be connected to two or more antennas.

In embodiments of the present invention, a UE serves as the transmissiondevice 10 on uplink and as the receiving device 20 on downlink. Inembodiments of the present invention, an eNB serves as the receivingdevice 20 on uplink and as the transmission device 10 on downlink.

The transmitting device 10 and/or the receiving device 20 may beconfigured as a combination of one or more embodiments of the presentinvention.

The detailed description of the exemplary embodiments of the presentinvention has been given to enable those skilled in the art to implementand practice the invention. Although the invention has been describedwith reference to the exemplary embodiments, those skilled in the artwill appreciate that various modifications and variations can be made inthe present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of theinvention described in the appended claims. For example, those skilledin the art may use each construction described in the above embodimentsin combination with each other. Accordingly, the invention should not belimited to the specific embodiments described herein, but should beaccorded the broadest scope consistent with the principles and novelfeatures disclosed herein.

The present invention can be used for wireless communication systemssuch as a UE, a relay, an eNB, etc.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for receiving a downlink control signalby a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, the methodcomprising: monitoring the plurality of enhanced physical downlinkcontrol channel (EPDCCH) candidates in an EPDCCH set to decode an EPDCCHtransmitted from a base station (BS) using the minimum aggregationlevel; decoding the EPDCCH transmitted from the BS; and receiving aphysical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) corresponding to the decodedEPDCCH, wherein a minimum aggregation level for a plurality of EPDCCHcandidates is determined as 2 if both a downlink (DL) bandwidth includesat least 25 resource blocks (RBs) and a downlink control information(DCI) format is one of DCI formats 2, 2A, 2B, 2C and 2D.
 2. The methodaccording to claim 1, wherein, if a number of PRB pairs constituting theEPDCCH set is 4, a number of the EPDCCH candidates are set to 8, 4, 2,and 1 at aggregation levels 2, 4, 8, and 16, respectively.
 3. The methodaccording to claim 1, further comprising: receiving informationregarding the number of EPDCCH candidates for each aggregation level (L)from the BS.
 4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: ifan aggregation level (L1) is set to be higher than a number of enhancedcontrol channel elements (ECCEs) contained in the EPDCCH set, allocatingEPDCCH candidates for the L1 to other aggregation levels.
 5. The methodaccording to claim 4, wherein the EPDCCH candidates for the L1 areattempted to be allocated to the other aggregation levels with priorityfrom a highest aggregation level to a lowest aggregation level fromamong aggregation levels less than the L1, from among aggregation levelsset in the EPDCCH set.
 6. The method according to claim 5, wherein, ifan additional EPDCCH candidate cannot be allocated to a specificaggregation level from among aggregation levels less than the L1, theadditional EPDCCH candidate is allocated to a next highest aggregationlevel subsequent to the specific aggregation level.
 7. The methodaccording to claim 1, wherein, a number of EPDCCH candidates of theEPDCCH set is decided according to each aggregation level (L), a number(N) of physical resource block (PRB) pairs of the EPDCCH set, and anumber of enhanced control channel elements (ECCEs) per PRB pair, andwherein a number of EPDCCH candidates for each N is fixed.
 8. The methodaccording to claim 1, wherein, if two EPDCCH sets are present, the twoEPDCCH sets are set to have different minimum aggregation levels.
 9. Themethod according to claim 1, wherein, if two EPDCCH sets are present,the two EPDCCH sets are set in a manner that individual aggregationlevels have different numbers of EPDCCH candidates.
 10. The methodaccording to claim 9, wherein, if an aggregation level (L2) higher thana number of enhanced control channel elements (ECCEs) contained in afirst EPDCCH set is set in the first EPDCCH set, EPDCCH candidates forthe L2 are allocated to a second EPDCCH set.
 11. The method according toclaim 10, wherein the EPDCCH candidates for the L2 are attempted to beallocated to the second EPDCCH set with priority from a highestaggregation level to a lowest aggregation level from among aggregationlevels less than the L2, from among aggregation levels set in the firstEPDCCH set.
 12. The method according to claim 11, wherein, if anadditional EPDCCH candidate cannot be allocated to a specificaggregation level from among aggregation levels less than the L2, theadditional EPDCCH candidate is allocated to a next highest aggregationlevel subsequent to the specific aggregation level.
 13. The methodaccording to claim 1, wherein, if an additional EPDCCH candidate cannotbe allocated to a specific aggregation level from among aggregationlevels less than a threshold aggregation level, the additional EPDCCHcandidate is allocated to a next highest aggregation level subsequent tothe specific aggregation level.
 14. The method according to claim 13,wherein the allocating of the additional EPDCCH candidate to the nexthighest aggregation level subsequent to the specific aggregation levelis limited by a total number of enhanced control channel elements(ECCEs), and wherein the total number of the ECCEs that may be generatedis
 32. 15. A user equipment (UE) configured to receive a downlinkcontrol signal in a wireless communication system, the UE comprising: aradio frequency (RF) unit; and a processor controls the RF unit, whereinthe processor further: monitors the plurality of enhanced physicaldownlink control channel (EPDCCH) candidates in an EPDCCH set to decodethe EPDCCH transmitted from a base station (BS) using the minimumaggregation level, decodes the EPDCCH transmitted from the BS, andreceives a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) corresponding to thedecoded EPDCCH, wherein a minimum aggregation level for a plurality ofEPDCCH candidates is determined as 2 if both a downlink (DL) bandwidthincludes at least 25 resource blocks (RBs) and a downlink controlinformation (DCI) format is one of DCI formats 2, 2A, 2B, 2C and 2D. 16.The UE according to claim 15, wherein, if a number of PRB pairsconstituting the EPDCCH set is 4, a number of the EPDCCH candidates areset to 8, 4, 2, and 1 at aggregation levels 2, 4, 8, and 16,respectively.
 17. The UE according to claim 15, wherein, if two EPDCCHsets are present, the two EPDCCH sets are set in a manner thatindividual aggregation levels have different numbers of EPDCCHcandidates.
 18. The UE according to claim 17, wherein, if an aggregationlevel (L2) higher than a number of enhanced control channel elements(ECCEs) contained in a first EPDCCH set is set in the first EPDCCH set,EPDCCH candidates for the L2 are allocated to a second EPDCCH set. 19.The UE according to claim 18, wherein the EPDCCH candidates for the L2are attempted to be allocated to the second EPDCCH set with priorityfrom a highest aggregation level to a lowest aggregation level fromamong aggregation levels less than the L2, from among aggregation levelsset in the first EPDCCH set.
 20. The UE according to claim 19, wherein,if an additional EPDCCH candidate cannot be allocated to a specificaggregation level from among aggregation levels less than the L2, theadditional EPDCCH candidate is allocated to a next highest aggregationlevel subsequent to the specific aggregation level.